U.S.-Egypt relations at 'a very tenuous moment'

Top U.S. officials amplified warnings Monday that Egypt is risking hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid and other consequences following the announcement that the Egyptian government will charge dozens of foreigners — including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s son — with improperly meddling in the country’s recent parliamentary elections.

The escalation in official tensions came as a delegation of Egyptian military officers that had been scheduled to meet with key House and Senate lawmakers this week was suddenly recalled to Cairo without explanation.

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“We have underscored how serious a problem these actions are. We have said clearly that these actions could have consequences for our relationship, including regarding our assistance programs,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Monday.

Egyptian security forces raided the offices of 17 foreign-based nongovernmental organizations on Dec. 29, including the International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, all of which receive millions of dollars in annual funding directly from the U.S. government.

Since that time, U.S. employees of those organizations have been prevented from leaving the country despite pleas from U.S. officials. Now, Egyptian authorities are preparing to bring criminal charges against 43 foreign workers — including Sam LaHood, son of the transportation secretary, and 18 other Americans — a move that set off alarms in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

“We continue to communicate at all levels with the Egyptian government our grave concerns regarding the crackdown against NGOs,” Carney said, adding that the NGO employees “have done nothing wrong. Their only assignment is to support Egypt in its transition to democracy.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice echoed those concerns during an appearance on MSBNC. Rice, like Carney and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asserted that the U.S. citizens “did absolutely nothing. They are doing what they do all over the world every day, which is impartially support civil society and democratic development.”

“We think it’s vitally important that the Egyptian government allow these people to depart and drop these charges so they can come home and rejoin their families,” Rice added. “This is a very serious issue that … has real potential negative implications for our bilateral relationship in all of its aspects including, as Secretary Clinton said, our assistance relationship.”

Clinton, according to congressional sources, has quietly asked lawmakers to step up pressure on the Egyptians, believing the American government’s only real leverage over Egypt is the aid package it delivers each year to the troubled country. A group of conservative Senate Republicans is expected to introduce a measure on Tuesday calling for cuts, or even the elimination, of U.S. aid to Egypt, Senate sources said.

A delegation of Egyptian military officers was supposed to meet with key House and Senate members, but those sessions were canceled when the Egyptian government recalled the officers at the last moment. A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy in Washington said the military officers “will be returning to Cairo.”

Readers' Comments (27)

Obama’s Arab Spring – United States closes embassy in Syria Obama’s Arab Spring is going swiminingly these days. So much so that 19 Americans (including Ray LaHood’s son) is being held in Egypt on accusations that they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt. And now in Syria, The United States has been forced to close it’s embassy in Damascus. The U.S. has also pulled out remaining staff after the Syrian government refused to address its security concerns.

Here we go again in that open air cesspool called the middle east. One group outs the other group in power. Then they in turn are either just as bad as the ones in power before them and / or worse. We give weapons / equipment / $ / other aid to that group. Then they turn on us later anyhow....then we help the next group...they turn on us too....blah....blah...blah ! The same thing will happen in Lybia they will turn on us also. If we fool around in Syria they will turn on us later too if the new bunch wanting power gets it. On and on and on. Just like watching old " I Love Lucy " reruns on the tube. You know what is going to happen before it happens. That region of the world has been a hornets nest for thousands of years. The people there are all tribal ..this tribe makes war on the other tribe. This muslim sect hates the other muslim sect and whacks them every chance they get. When the ancient Romans occupied that region of the world. Their Legions crucified any of the so-called Arabs there who even looked at them cross eyed. Even the Romans couldn't control that lot with their methods. So why do we think that we can reason with them ?

Unfortunately cutting off their funding would simply result in the administration giving the same money to someone else they like. A couple of middle east oil billionaires with checkbooks could replace our funding with the stroke of a pen. I could support cutting their funding if it went towards paying down our debt.

The US can't stop paying the Egyptian army, or it will face a similar situation as in Iraq, when Bremner foolishly disbanded the Iraqi army.

Following Camp David, the US effectively bribed the Egyptian army to stay out of war making. Yes, the army got lots of US weapons. But the ammo and spare parts are US made. The Egyptian army can't fight without US approval. It's a toy army.

The officers today have fancy clubs, and run factories which the army (and top generals) own. There's a law in Egypt that stops people from talking about in, on pain of immediate long imprisonment.

But the US stops the money, many of the officers now employed as manager of sock and blanket and shoe factories, will become unemployed, and join the Brotherhood. The US is stuck: It must continue paying. But over time, it MUST convince Egypt to down its army, and turn most of its useless colonels to civilian work.

The problem is that most Egyptians are uneducated and incompetent-- especially army personnel. The riots now and the killings are less a result of conspiracy, but more of disorganization and idiocy. It's a real problem, that will only mushroom if the money stops.

Have you noticed that Russia and China didn't fret too much when NATO was going after Egypt and Libya? Both had US controlled leaders. Syria and Iran, on the other hand, both hate the US and Israel. All of sudden China and Russia don't want the UN to interfere. Hmmmm.

Putin must go to sleep laughing. The Arab Spring has turned into the American Winter.

Oh those "moderate" Arabs! Yes, the ones we wanted to support in their movement towards democracy and peaceful co-existence with the non-Muslim world. But oops! they elected an 80% Islamist government. And once again show that the world of Islam cannot be bought with money or weapons.

All nations of the world need to stand up against the criminal Rothschild Banking Mafia who owns the Federal Reserve and is behind 99% of all terrorist attacks which are false flags staged by Israel who Rothschild created, owns and controls. Rothschild runs AIPAC who controls congress through bribery and extortion.

We must abolish the Federal Reserve and prosecute those who run it for High Treason and give them the maximum penalty for their crimes. They do not deserve to be kept and fed for the rest of their lives for trying to destroy our nation and murdering millions of innocent people worldwide. The true terrorists, the Rothschild Mafia and their supporters within the government must be tracked down and terminated so we can end the war on terror and bring real world peace for the future.

Israel is planning another false flag attack to bring America into another war for the Rothschild Mafia. I believe they are planning to attack the USS Enterprise since it is scheduled to be scrapped next year or they will nuke a major US city to blame on Iran. Israel has attacked the USA many times before and every time the government and media covered up the truth.

Every nation attacked so far has not had a Rothschild owned central bank, but they do now. This is what these wars are about. Americans who are intelligent are discovering the truth by giving up on the zionist Rothschild controlled media who do nothing but spread false propaganda. The truth is indisputable and the evidence is overwhelming. It is easily found using a search engine and many still have the capability of processing information on their own, sadly most Americans are brainwashed and afraid to learn the truth in fear of being called names by others who cannot process information. Israel staged the 9/11 attacks, the USS Liberty massacre and many others.

Wake up, we cannot allow them to start world war 3 to cull the population of the world. It is time we remove the criminal Rothschilds and their supporters from the gene pool to create world peace and prosperity. Arrest them and give them a fair and speedy trial/execution.

Motivated by something deeper - and exceedingly rational to their world view - wealthy Saudis learned to fly American airliners. In Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan, using American weapons, Muslim soldiers turned on and shot their American trainers. In the US an American officer turned on his coworkers, patients, and fellow physicians to kill as many as possible. Try to understand this: the separation of Church and State does not exist in Egypt or Iran... or Turkey or Hamas or Iraq or anywhere in the world of Islam.

Cut the funding and bomb Iran, let the whole middle east decimate itself, then go in and kill any survivors. Make the whole region into a cooperatively owned and operated oil-mining and agricultural camp for the benefit of the CIVILIZED world.

The morality of the suggestion may be questionable, but the pragmatism of it is unimpeachable.

Maybe we should lead Nato into Syria and save them like we have Egypt! They seem to have a much nicer government,I mean military takeover' despite our money!Now they have American prisoners!Jimmy Carters worse president ever with his American prisoners in Iran now has competition!

Cut the funding and bomb Iran, let the whole middle east decimate itself, then go in and kill any survivors. Make the whole region into a cooperatively owned and operated oil-mining and agricultural camp for the benefit of the CIVILIZED world. The morality of the suggestion may be questionable, but the pragmatism of it is unimpeachable.

gripples, you are so right. Anyone with a superficial knowledge of each Middle East country knows that until Obama got involved, their governments were containing the radicals within. His meddling has caused so many explosions and now our real enemies are filling the vacuums--again, you, I, and many others knew this would happen. The Obama administration is either inept, incompetent, and mentally deficient, or, it knew that this would happen--I can't think of another explanation. It is hard for me to believe that none of the U.S. NGOs in Egypt were not rattling the cages and gently calling for civil unrest, but, we will probably never have proof. Yes, I'm sure that Putin sleeps very well these days. What is disturbing is that Obama's restlessness is due only to his re-election concerns.

So, you tossed Mubarak to the wolves. Now, are you ready to deal with the new kid on the block, the Islamist Brotherhood.

Why is it so hard to understand that ANY islamist organization that gives even the slightest deference to the U.S. will be dead on its feet? Isn't anybody at the State Department allowed to speak their mind, now that PBO's political drones run the show? Apparently not.

No reason to be surprised at this at all. Do the words, Ayatollah, Carter, Embassy, 1979 have any relevance at all to this administration, supposedly laden with college professors?

Despite 1.5 billion in American financial aid you are holding these innocent servants, ludicrous, We give foreign assistance to the Egyptian military and they pretend to have no control over the Egyptian judiciary, hogwash. They are holding Sam LaHood and the other Americans as leverage chips. These captives are innocents and need to be released immediately. Release them now!

We should suspend all aid to the Egyptian military, freeze foreign accounts, and with hold further support until they let all Americans and others go free. They have to feel American pressure. No more tourism or buying of Egyptian products until they get the message, Free the Americans now! This is a violation of human rights. END IT NOW.

There is not any logical reason to try these fine public servants. This is utter nonsense. You must demonstrate to nationsof the world that you can become a civil society. Let these fine young people go free now. The world is watching.

The thought occurs to me that Egypt may have a legitimate gripe, because it's logical to asume they didn't arrive at their decision without a reason.

I understand from the article that the Egyptian military is running the government in the interim before elections take place. The military apparently does not trust the Muslim Brotherhood who want to take over. In the past the military has kept Egypt safe, and they honored the treaty that kept Israel and Egypt as allies.

Maybe we should stop interfering in other countries' political processes? What is LaHood's son doing there in the first place? Perhaps Egypt should expel all foreigners until they get their own affairs in order, on their own terms.